South Wales, New York
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1925 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Wales town. It lies in ZIP code area 14139. The Survey maps it on the Holland quadrangle. It stands 932 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1925 to 1984The same ground, surveyed 59 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.


Compare 1925 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 15 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1925 USGS Springville quadrangle1:62500, 5 printings
- 1955 USGS Holland quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1960 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1967 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
- 1973 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:250000
- 1979 USGS Holland quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Buffalo quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
145 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 145 fires within 5 miles of South Wales between 2003 and 2020, burning about 106 acres in total. 21 started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 |
| Natural | 21 |
| Debris and open burning | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 3 September 2018 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 3 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 3 September 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 29 September 2007 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 25 September 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
| 16 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | not named |
| 15 September 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Fire Department of New York | N/A |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of South Wales: 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Salt. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed Salt Well | Salt | Prospect |
Storms near this place
3 since 2008Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names South Wales in 3 storm reports between 2008 and 2017: 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2017 | Tornado (EF0) | South Wales | $100,000 | A NWS storm survey confirmed an EF1 tornado touched down in Holland. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | South Wales | $15,000 | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Hail | South Wales | $10,000 | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blakeley | 2.1 miles | 15 | |
| Colegrave | 2.2 miles | 15 | |
| East Aurora | 4.5 miles | 19 | |
| Taylorshire | 4.8 miles | 16 | |
| Wales Center | 4.8 miles | 19 | |
| Griffins Mills | 4.8 miles | 16 | |
| Holland | 5.1 miles | 15 | |
| Wales Hollow | 5.3 miles | 15 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on South Wales | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q7568758 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 965885. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







